Motorola ROKR E8: hands-on!

What’s that you hear? The sound of another exclusive, here at BGR? Mm hmm. The Motorola ROKR E8 has often been referred to as the "morphing phone," and why shouldn’t it? The keyboard actually changes based on what function of the phone you wish to use. When you’re making a call at the home screen, you’d obviously want the full keyboard there. When you’re about to snap a flick, you get zoom in and out keys, a playback key for viewing recently taken photos, and a video camera key for switching to video mode. In music mode, the keyboard displays next and previous keys, a play / pause key, a shuffle playback key, and a repeat key. The actual device is pretty sharp, too. The entire front is like one smooth surface with a huge touch-sensitive "ROKR" (scroll) wheel in the middle. What’s incredible, is that there is absolutely no tactile feedback on any of the keys when the phone is off. It’s just a flat surface with little dots to help guide your fingers. But when it’s on, haptics lends support when you’re pressing a button, but it actually makes the keys press. Hard to explain, but there is definitely tactile feedback on a key press and not just the normal haptics vibrate. As far as we can tell, the Motorola E8 features a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth (with various profiles including A2DP), and is a quad-band GSM/EDGE device. You’ll also notice a 3.5mm headset jack at the top of the phone, which is a little awkwardly placed if you ask us. The Motorola E8 runs a newer version of the MOTOMAGX platform, so Motorola RAZR 2 V8 users will have no problem getting used to the new handset. We’re trying to track down a release date now, and we have no word on what carriers here in the U.S. will be jumping aboard to carry it at this point. All in all, it’s not going to take over the world, but with its thin and sleek profile complete with a unique keyboard and excellent call quality, we could see ourselves using this every day.

J.C.,
This is definitely no poor mans iPhone the iPhone isn’t even on the same scale as this.

This looks like a great phone and if att got it then they would finally have something to replace the last ROKR they had, what was it? The E6?

J.C.

Jeff,

I take your point, I was just remarking on the similarity of their concepts. You know, they both focus on music capabilities, have some special touch screen/keyboard, etc…..

But, when you say there not on the same scale, exactly! Thats why i say “poor mans iPhone”, they have similar touch ideas, just vastly different price tags and capability…

theninthcloud

It looks pretty nifty! As a “touch” dialer, I look forward to trying out the haptic keypad!

girlgenius

you know, applefanboy, the iphone wasn’t the first nor the most expensive phone to incorporate a music player. the iphone is an iphone that lets you call a friend. this is a phone that lets you listen to music. you remind me of a friend who thinks his 3megapix nokia is better than my old 3megapix camera — he keeps saying, “my camera can also make phone calls, can yours?”

Christopher Cox

You know … this phone and the iPhone are meant for two completely different market segments. So I have NO IDEA how the heck you are even comparing this as a poor mans iPhone. I know LOTS of people who would not buy an iPhone because they don’t need its features. They just want a phone that acts awesome as a phone and maybe some music playback. Like a previous poster said … iPhone is an awesome music player with a phone attached (very uncomfortable to talk on). This is a phone with an okay music player.

Its made for different markets. Thats like me saying my baseball bat is way better than your tennis racket at playing sports because it is harder.

http://www.t3l3.net Biho

I hate iPhone, that’s why I prefer to choose ROKR E8.

jjsoviet

The ROKR E8 is intended for satisfying the outgoing young market, not for businesspeople like the iPhone. These two are very different animals. And also, it is important to mention that the E8 is also not a direct competitor to the Sony Ericsson Walkman series or Nokia Xpress Music phones…it is rather a solid mid-tier music phone with all the features the masses really neeed unlike the others which pack on many features not widely used or even known by the general public. Overall, the E8 is a smart choice for music lovers and entry-level consumers a like.

Elias C.

The iPhone is most definitely not meant for the business market. If you think it is, you need to stop and take a look at the phones that truly are, then you will see the difference. That said, I think the E8 and the iPhone still fall into different areas of the market, where purchases like these are made more on the reaction to the device rather than the specs a unit might include.

jonathan

when will it be released

Vendetta-88

How did you come up with the idea that the iPhone is a business phone? It’s pure fashion phone, hello. And this ROKR E8 is supposed to be a direct competitor to Sony’s Walkman and Nokia’s Xpress Music phones and from what I’ve read so far, it provides superior audio quality that matches mp3 players from Apple, Samsung and Creative.

jjsoviet

I’m terribly sorry for my misconception about the target market of the iPhone…I take that back. Also, sorry for not making the E8 a direct competitor of the XpressMusic and the Walkman series. I just thought that Motorola can’t deliberately fight against Nokia and SE. I was just updated about its real specs and it really can compete with the said rival phones and even dedicated audio players like the Apple iPod.

Paras Bajaj

Does it have a video recording function???Nobody is stating it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tripp

Sweet, this might replace my SLVR.

e8owner

its a cool phone to have.. it turns heads when the keys light up… haptic feedback is sweet… and music function is great! best part is it charges over usb cable..

mikron

I HAVE this phone already ITS PRETTY GOOD!

Yes The Rokr E8 HAS VIDEO RECORDING you can always goto moto site and download the manual

(*its available now)

the quality of music is fantastic as well as CALL QUALITY IS AMAZING

the only downside is the web sucks ,reps at moto land suggest installing a java alternative like opera to fix the problem

one of the plus benefits of this phone is java apps is endless and there’s tons of games etc available already

take care

m

jaime

i recently purchased the moto rokr e8 and so far to my knowledge i cannot make or place calls while charging as well as recieve or text message or play music. Basically while the phone is charging it is useless. not to mention it is a new phone so occasionally freezes. I have only had a few hours with it and already am finding these things out. I also have a mac and still have yet to figure out a way to connect my phone to my computer as all the installation is for windows.

Bosox324

About the Rokr E8 and Macs…I’m in the same boat. This phone isn’t compatible with Macs, simply put. It’s purely a PC phone. I’ve been in the market for a new music phone and this seems to be my best choice. The iphone 3g is nice but really, who wants a phone that is going to be THAT expensive to keep? My solution to this phone and a mac is to get a USB card reader and upload your songs and information that way. I haven’t played w/ the phone yet but I’m sure once the card is in the phone you can move the information around. I’m taking a step down from the BB Pearl but I like gadgets, what can I say. This phone is wicked cool and everyone says the music clarity/phone quality is out of this world. It’s easier to handle on the subway/T than tryin to fling the iphone around in and out of your pocket.